This invention pertains to a predominantly concrete revetment and to an assembly of said revetments, as employed to line embankments, stream beds, and driveways for emergency vehicles. Each revetment has cable passages extending through crush-absorbing ribs on margins of such revetment.
As exemplified in older patents including U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,628 and in newer patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,108,222, 5,632,571, and 5,779,391, assemblies of predominantly concrete revetments are employed to line embankments, stream beds, and driveways for emergency vehicles. A reinforced plastic revetment of related interest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 929,728.
As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,628 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,391, cables are employed to connect the respective revetments of such an assembly to one another, whereby the assembly is articulated. As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,222 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,571, a polymeric grid is employed to connect the respective revetments of such an assembly to one another, whereby the assembly is articulated.
A revetment of related interest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,792. As disclosed therein, the revetment has projecting spacers that abut or interlock with projecting spacers on an adjacent, similar revetment.
This invention provides a novel assembly of predominantly concrete revetments and a novel revetment for such an assembly. As discussed below, each revetment has a novel arrangement of ribs, through which cable passages extend.
Each revetment is a generally rectangular solid having two longitudinal margins and two transverse margins, having two expansive faces, and having an array of apertures, which extend through said revetment, between the expansive faces, and through which vegetation can grow. Each revetment has a grid of embedded reinforcing bars. Each revetment has, on each of the longitudinal margins of said revetment or on each of the longitudinal and transverse ribs of said revetment, one or more ribs extending between the expansive faces of said revetment.
Each revetment has, at each rib on each of the longitudinal margins of said revetment or on each rib on each of the longitudinal and transverse margins of said revetment, a cable passage extending through said rib and through whichever of the margins has said rib, the cable passage opening into a near aperture of the array of apertures of said revetment. The reinforcing bars include a reinforcing bar extending through each of the margins having a rib with a cable passage. The revetments of the assembly are connected to one another, via cables passing through at least some of the cable passages of the connected revetments, so that at least some of the ribs of the connected revetments approximate one another. The approximating ribs are adapted to become crushed, so as to minimize crushing of the connected revetments except at the approximating ribs, if and when the assembly is articulated at the approximating ribs.